Microsoft XNA
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| XNA | |
|---|---|
 XNA Logo. The red part stands for XNA in Morse code : -..- means X and also NA (-. and .-). |
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| Developed by | Microsoft |
| Latest release | 3.0 CTP / December 13, 2007 |
| OS | Microsoft Windows |
| Genre | Application framework |
| License | EULA |
| Website | XNA Homepage |
Microsoft XNA ("XNA's Not Acronymed"[1]) is a set of tools, complete with a managed runtime environment, provided by Microsoft, that facilitates computer game design, development, and management. XNA does this by freeing game designers from writing "repetitive boilerplate code", [2] and brings all aspects of game production into a single system. [3][neutrality disputed] The XNA toolset was announced March 24, 2004, at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California. A first Community Technology Preview of XNA Build was released on March 14, 2006. XNA Game Studio 2.0 was released in December of 2007.
At GDC 2008, Microsoft announced plans on enabling a community publishing pipeline for the Xbox 360 and Zune in the next version of XNA, version 3.0.[4]
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[edit] Overview
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This article or section may require restructuring to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page. This article has been tagged since March 2008. |
[edit] XNA Framework
The XNA Framework is based on the native implementation of .NET Compact Framework 2.0 for Xbox 360 development and .NET Framework 2.0 on Windows. It includes an extensive set of class libraries, specific to game development, to promote maximum code reuse across target platforms. The framework runs on a version of the Common Language Runtime that is optimized for gaming to provide a managed execution environment. The runtime is available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Xbox 360. Since XNA games are written for the runtime, they can run on any platform that supports the XNA Framework with minimal or no modification. Games that run on the framework can technically be written in any .NET-compliant language, but only C# and XNA Game Studio Express IDE and all versions of Visual Studio 2005 are officially supported. [1]
The XNA Framework thus encapsulates low-level technological details involved in coding a game, making sure that the framework itself takes care of the difference between platforms when games are ported from one compatible platform to another, and thereby allowing game developers to focus more on the content and gaming experience. The XNA Framework integrates with a number of tools, such as XACT, to aid in content creation. These tools can help author the visuals or sounds in the game, and model characters with life-like dynamism.
The XNA Framework provides support for both 2D and 3D game creation and allows use of the Xbox 360 controllers and vibrations. XNA framework games that target the Xbox platform can currently only be distributed to members of the Microsoft XNA Creator's Club which carries a $99/year subscription fee.[1] Desktop applications can be distributed free of charge under Microsoft's current licensing.
[edit] XNA Build
XNA Build is a set of game asset pipeline management tools, which help by defining, maintaining, debugging, and optimizing the game asset pipeline of individual game development efforts. A game asset pipeline describes the process by which game content, such as textures and 3D models, are modified to a form suitable for use by the gaming engine. XNA Build helps identify the pipeline dependencies, and also provides API access to enable further processing of the dependency data. The dependency data can be analyzed to help reduce the size of a game by finding content that is not actually used. For example, XNA Build analysis revealed that 40% of the textures that shipped with MechCommander 2 were unused and could have been omitted. [5]
[edit] XNA Game Studio
XNA Game Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for development of games. [6]. Five revisions have been released so far.
[edit] XNA Game Studio Professional
XNA Game Studio Professional was a planned version of the XNA IDE targeted for professional game developers. [6] Based on Visual Studio 2005 Team System, XNA Studio provides a structure for collaboration between content creators, programmers, management, and testers. Project management tasks, such as asset management, defect tracking, project automation, and work item lists, are somewhat automated by XNA Studio.
XNA Game Studio Professional is no longer under active development. The new version of XNA Game Studio (2.0), released December 2007, supports all versions of Visual Studio 2005. [7]
[edit] XNA Game Studio Express
XNA Game Studio Express is intended for students, hobbyist, and independent (and homebrew) game developers. [1] It is available as a free download. Express will provide basic "starter kits" for rapid development of specific genres of games, such as platform, real-time strategy, and first-person shooters. Developers can create Windows games for free with the XNA Framework, but to run their games on the Xbox 360 they will have to pay an annual fee of US$99 (or a four-month fee of US$49) for admission to the Microsoft XNA Creator's Club/XNA "Creator's Club". The initial release had no way of shipping precompiled binaries to other Xbox 360 players, but this was changed in "XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 Refresh"; it is now possible to compile Xbox 360 binaries and share them with other Microsoft XNA Creator's Club/Creator's Club members.
The first beta version of XNA Game Studio Express was released for download on August 30, 2006, followed by a second version on November 1, 2006. Microsoft released the final version on December 11, 2006. [8]
On April 24, 2007, Microsoft released an update called XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 Refresh. [9]
[edit] XNA Game Studio 2.0
XNA Game Studio 2.0, the most recent version of XNA Game Studio, was released on December 13, 2007. [10] XNA Game Studio 2.0 features the ability to be used with all versions of Visual Studio 2005, a networking API using Xbox Live on both Windows and Xbox 360 and better device handling. [11] This version of the software is available for students to download free of charge as part of Microsoft's DreamSpark program. It is also available to download for free on the XNA Creator Club website.
[edit] XNA Game Studio 3.0
The recently announced XNA Game Studio 3.0 will allow production of games targeting the Zune platform and adds Xbox Live community support. A Community Technology Preview of the toolset was released in May 2008[12]. The final release is planned for late 2008.
[edit] XNA Framework Content Pipeline
The XNA Framework Content Pipeline is a set of tools that allows Visual Studio and XNA Studio "as the key design point around organizing and consuming 3D content". [6]
[edit] License Agreement
The Microsoft XNA Framework 2.0 EULA specifically prohibits the distribution of commercial networked games that connect to Xbox Live and/or Games for Windows Live in the absence of a specific agreement signed by both you and Microsoft. [13] This means that XNA Game Studio can still be used to develop commercial games and other programs for the Windows platform, although Microsoft's networking support code for Xbox/Windows Live cannot be used. Self-developed network code can still be used inside your XNA project.
Games created using XNA Game studio are limited to non-commercial scenarios for Xbox 360 titles. However, the software may be used to create commercial games which target Windows.
[edit] Alternative implementations
Work is already under way to port this framework to the open source and cross-platform Mono framework. [14]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Microsoft XNA Frequently Asked Questions
- ^ Microsoft: Next Generation of Games Starts With XNA
- ^ YouTube: XNA explanation from experts *(video removed from YouTube "due to terms of use violation").
- ^ Interview with Chris Satchell - 2007. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
- ^ Brian Keller: "Will XNA tools be able to help reduce game sizes?"
- ^ a b c XNA Game Studio. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
- ^ XNA Team Blog : Announcing XNA Game Studio 2.0
- ^ Gamefest announcement of XNA Game Studio Express
- ^ XNA Team Blog : XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 Refresh Released
- ^ http://creators.xna.com/Education/GettingStarted.aspx
- ^ XNA Team Blog : XNA Game Studio 2.0 Released
- ^ http://blogs.msdn.com/xna/archive/2008/05/07/announcing-xna-game-studio-3-0-community-technical-preview-ctp.aspx
- ^ XNA Game Studio 2.0 Software License Terms
- ^ Mono.XNA. Retrieved on 2007-06-03.
[edit] External links
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